Well, once again I have way too much to catch up on. It's difficult because every day is so loaded with events, which means that there's little time for writing, and then writing about the day's events takes more time to record all of it. It's been a great few days though!
We arrived to Tallin around 1900h on the 6th, and immediately went to our hotel, the St. Barbara which was built over an only recently discovered crypt with hundreds of skelletons. It's located across the street from Freedom Square, on the edge between oldtown Tallinn and downtown Tallinn, which was fantastic. Nick and I became roommates once more, with a room on the ground floor with convenient access to the lobby, etc. We had a late dinner in their restauant, which was a German pub located underground, and despite the great ambience and even waitresses wearing cool barmaid outfits, the restaurant was the one part of the hotel that I found lacking- it took absolutely forever for us to get our drinks and food, it was a bit expensive, and the portions were literally too large. Still, it was cool to imagine the historical Baltic Germans while eating and drinking in this setting.
The 7th of January started off before dawn with a guided walking tour of oldtown, which was led by a smart lady with a wry sense of humor whose name was Miina Puusepp. She took us first past the gigantic crystal cross erected to memorialize those who lost their lives fighting for the original Estonian independence (made out of crystal despite the freezing climate to remind everyone that freedom is fragile, and must be actively maintained), past the giant walls made of local limestone in the 14th century, and up the hill past the giant tower «Kiek in die Kurk» (if I'm spelling it correctly) which translates into «peak into the kitchens» because the watchmen could supposedly look down from the tower through the chimneys of the city's homes to see what the townsfolk were cooking. We heard the bells ring with the song played at sunrise and sunset, and saw incredible examples of architecture from all of Estonia's periods: Danish, Baltic German, Russian Empire, Independence, Soviet Occupations, and the modern era. We visited the oldest cafe in Tallinn, and also an apothocary which claims to be the inventor of marzipan deserts. We saw incredible views from the top of high walls, and most of all: we were cold. Absolutely freaking freezing! It was snowing the whole time, which was beautiful and fun, but also an intense wind had picked up over the city and was whipping through the narrow alleyways and along the cobblestone streets with a vengence. It was bone chilling- but a very fun adventure nonetheless.
The late morning and afternoon were spent in lectures taught by Dr. Kasekamp, who provided another brief overview of the 11,000 year human settlement of Estonia, as well as a much more detailed examination of the modern history of Estonia, after reclaiming its independence in the final days of the Soviet Union. He had a lot of excellent material to cover, and I really appreciated his critical examination of the era- frankly acknowledging the difficulties the newly revitalized nation faced, without sugar coating things.
In the evening then Nick and I went to have dinner with Patrick and an Estonian woman he became friends with while in Tartu, who happened to be in Tallinn that evening. We ate at a restaurant called Wabadus directly on Freedom Square, which had the most amazing soups: I got the best borsch I've ever had in my life, while Nick had an absolutely incredible pumpkin soup. We also shared some garlic shrimp that was just perfect, and to top it off, we were very impressed at how reasonable the prices were too. As we finished dinner, Patrick's friend texted a couple of her friends who lived in the city and invited them to join us, so shortly thereafter we met Kristel and Trinn, who were super cool. Kristel was an accountant, but was quickly deemed our «translator» for her fantastic command of our two languages; while Trinn worked in protecting the historical buildings in Tallinn, but now would be our «tour guide». As we talked with them Kristel taught me a few Estonian words while Trinn gave us the lowdown on local sites that were less «touristy». Specifically, both ladies insisted to us that there was a bar just around the corner that was literally «legendary» and that it had a real creative devil of a shot there that they were infamous for, but that they would not think less of us if we were not brave enough to try it.
Their reverse psychology worked perfectly on the Trio, and minutes later we were opening the door to the Valii Baar where theres is always standing room only, and ordering three «Jellyfish» shots while the girls looked on in fascinated horror. It's made with some kind of digestif liquer (like Jagermeister, but not actually Jager), possibly a mystery ingredient, and a very healthy shaking of Tabasco- the drops of which then become suspended in the translucent liquid and become more yellowish in color, looking startlingly like a fluffy little jellyfish floating around inside your shot glass. We toasted with calls of «terviseks!» while most the of the bar looked on at us, and we tossed our glasses back with a single gulp each. It was, no joke, one of the best shots I've ever had in my life. In fact, my first reaction was to think it was some kind of joke that the girls had put us up to with how much fear they had talked up this drink. But the whole bar, and particularly the girls all seemed legitimately impressed when we all put our glasses down without a sputter, but instead with smiles.
Patrick and his friend ended up calling it an early night, but Nick, Trinn, Kristel, and I stuck around to have another drink before they suggested that we go around the corner once more to a club called «The Kuku Club» which was having a 24-hour David Bowie music dance marathon to celebrate the anniversary of his birthday (and if I'm not mistaken, I had the understanding the club would repeat the marathon a few days later for the anniversary of his death in 2016). Obviously, we were not about to say no to this. So we went, and we danced, and we talked, and we danced, and we talked- until about 6am when we all left together to go get some pizza from a 24 hour place across the street, which in addition to pizza, featured drunk Estonian 18 year-old young men singing Estonian national songs at the top of their lungs, which we did our best to join in on. We made sure the ladies left for home safely, and finally got back to the hotel room a little before 7am, where we just slept on top of our beds still in our clothes for an hour before we had to wake up for the next day's events.
The 8th of January had us groggily step out the door in time to join the group for an excursion to The Museum of Occupations, which describes the experiences of Estonians during its three back-to-back-to-back occupations: the Soviets, the Nazis, and the Soviets again- and the horrors they experienced under each one. We actually had a private tour of the museum by one of the museum's top curators, and the narrative he told was stunning and passionate. Hearing about the frank presentation of the atrocities endured at the time really helps one understand why the focus on Estonian independence is such a prominent feature of the culture. Nick and I were both very glad that we decided not to skip the tour in favor of sleep- it was worth it.
Afterwards, we returned to the school building downtown for additional lectures. We briefly contemplated skipping out on those, but decided that we could power through it with the help of the black tea provided at the school. I think it's worth saying at this juncture that it was my distinct impression that several of our younger colleagues were under the mistaken impression at the beginning of the program that due to our age, we must be boring, and as such didn't invite us to very many of their «parties» which consisted of just pounding a bottle of liqour in a hotel room followed by unappologetic absence from large swaths of the program. Despite their misimpressions, I think we've consistently proven that if you're tough enough, and yes, self-disciplined enough, you can in fact be both a great student AND have a much grander time than merely getting drunk. As such, Nick and I simply stayed awake and actively participated in the very interesting lectures we had that day.
Both on the 8th and the 9th we recieved a series of lectures from Dr. Andrey Makarychev, on the topic of Russia's perspective on international affairs. Dr. Makarychev was quite clearly an expert on the topic and really did an impressive job of illuminating both the macro cultural perspective of Russia (both its leadership and its people) and also examining several specific case studies which demonstrated Russian strategies to foreign policy in action. I particularly appreciated the specifivity, which really got into technical details of how Russia attemtps to divide its policy opponents or arranges its propaganda campaigns. It's easy for people who only know a little about foreign affairs to say something cliche like «Russia uses propaganda and election manipulation to advance their goals», it's another thing entirely to explain HOW it is done in a very technical manner. His lectures were the latter, which made them very fascinating.
After the lectures were over for the day we finally went back to the hotel to shower and relax a bit. Nick decided to stay back at the hotel to get some rest, but I was surprisingly still feeling some energy left in my system, not to mention being pretty hungry at that point, so I ended up walking around oldtown with Digeo, Chase, Ricardo, and Claire looking for food. Somebody had looked up a bunch of Trip Advisor reviews of restaurants in the area, and when we bumbled into the Kompressor pancake house it was remembered that apparently this place had been reviewed as «legendary». Given how awesome my night had gone the last time someone used the word «legendary», I was sold on it and we walked right in. Pancakes in this part of the world refer to what most Americans call crepes, though slightly thicker. I ordered a delicious pancake with smoked chicken, feta cheese, tomatos, and pesto sauce; but also got to try some of Claire's great strawberry and quark cheese pancake as a bit of dessert, along with a cappacino made with Vana Tallinn- the signature liqueor of Estonia that's a bit like Bailey's, but I would say more almond tasting. Poor Diego however didn't totally understand what was going to be in the pancake he ordered and got one just chock-full of dairy products, when unfortunately for him he's lactose-intolerant.
After dinner some of us had indicated an interest in going ice skating, but when we actually got to the rink near Freedom Square, a few of the group ended up bailing, and so just Claire and I went. It was great! Unlike the ice skates I had rented in Oslo, these skates were inexpensive, brand new, and most importantly, actually good. The ice itself was a bit uneven and pitted, but with skates this good it didn't matter much and I did much, much better than I had with the Trio in Norway. Best of all was the view from the ice rink: it sat about one story up along the hill of oldtown, and so on one side it looked directly across the cobblestone street to some quaint germanic houses, and on the other side it looked up the hill to giant limestone walls with a tall medival church above it! We skated until the rink closed at 2200h, and then decided to go exploring through the quiet city streets in directions our tour hadn't taken us. We found our way to the top of the hill, and wandered around the tiny alleyways and tunneled passages, and found several incredible views from the top of the highest walls and ramparts, all covered in a couple inches of picturesque snow. In particular I remember walking through a courtyard that had a streetlamp casting some bold shadows that looked exactly like a scene out of a Nikolai Chiryatev painting from the Erata exhibit we saw on our first day in St. Petersburg.
The morning of the 9th brought us back home, in a manner of speaking. We visited the American embassy in Tallinn, which by international convention is considered to be a tiny piece of the United States inside the country of Estonia. We had a short presentation there by the Foreign Service Officer in charge of public affairs, whose name was David, but quickly broke it down to an extended question and answer session about a wide range of issues, mostly dealing with careers in the Foreign Service. It was really interesting, and I'm glad it was included in the tour. I got a free souvenir out of it too, as they gave us some high quality Estonia/U.S. flag lapel pins, which I'll be proud to wear.
After the final lectures in the series given by Dr. Makarychev we recieved our certificates of program completion, and it was time for one final party- and boy was it something! We were taken to the medieval guild hall of Tallinn, which now houses a museum dedicated to all things in Estonian history, but particularly features elements from the building's heyday as the guild hall. We had a medium length tour which taught us about the traditions of the guild masters during the middle ages, the celebrations that were held in the hall, and the business these men conducted here. One key element of business was the spice trade, Tallinn being part of the Hanseatic League. To this end, they had an exhibit on the spices traded during that time, which included a game of sorts- a blind smell test of eight different medieval spices, which I volunteered myself to be the public guinea pig for. Amusingly, but also somewhat frustratingly at the time, our guide (whose English was a bit slow) didn't seem to understand that I was actively involved in taking the smell test, and kept resetting the test on me, mid-test, making the process significantly harder! With such a handicap, I only managed to correctly identify 6 out of the 8 spices, but that's still not bad.
The tour continued however into the great hall of the guild house, where we were all served a portion of a local beer, and a costumed young man and woman stood holding medieval musical instruments! The woman had a tamborine, while the man had both bagpipes, and even a hurdy-gurdy. While he played music for us, she taught us all the steps to the traditional dances that were performed in the hall centuries ago. Patrick, myself, and Nick naturally were the first volunteers to get up and try the steps with her, and soon we had the entire group enthusiastically learning the dances, especially the «horse dance» where we danced «like horses».
Following the dance lesson, our minstrels guided us through the dark evening streets of vana Tallinn (the Estonian words for «old Danish town») still playing their musical instruments. The Trio led the procession behind them, encouraging the whole group the leap and prance to the music as we wound along the cobblestones through the main village square (not to be confused with Freedom Square) and to the medieval inn which would offer us food and drink for the evening: Olde Hansa. There the minstrels handed us off to other costumed hospitality providers who led us into the large house, and up the stairs to the dining hall we would eat our feast in. We washed our fingers according to ritual tradition, had our tablemaster (Dr. Greb) break the bread and bless it with salt, and made a toast to our tablemaster by wishing his good health in Latin with cups of «Monk's Wife» (the strong brew that monks would make to keep them warm on cold nights since they had no wife to keep them warm). Then we ate medieval foods which were all delicious- my favorite was the cruscader's lentil recipe. Of course, this was all washed down with copious amounts of beer- honeybeer, spicebeer, and cinnamonbeer- in giant clay mugs clanged together and slammed down upon heavy wooden tables. Dessert was packets of roasted almonds covered in cinnamon and honey, while the maids poured more beer and called us lords and ladies. Meanwhile more medieval music played, and ancient medieval art adorned the walls around us, for a truly immersive experience!
The party continued on at other, more modern venues over the course of the night, which was all great fun until we got kicked out an Irish pub when some of our group brought some McDonalds french fries into the establishment in their drunken need for fried potatoes that were not conveniently available at the pub. We were a bit bewildered by the proprieter's decision to evict us so suddenly and so sternly considering how many drinks we had bought and would've certainly continued to buy, but as we reflected upon the situation during our walk back to the hotel, we may have been much more rude than we thought we were by bringing the food into the pub.
In the morning everyone made their goodbyes to each other, with most of the group getting on ferries to Helsinki, which usually offers cheaper flights than Tallinn if your destination is the U.S. For Nick and myself however, the U.S. is not yet our destination, so along with Claire (who is travelling to Germany to see her brother) and Patrick (who was just taking a much later ferry) we spent several hours exploring the more residential and industrial regions of Tallinn which we hadn't yet seen much of. We found our way to a tiny bakery hidden away in a residential neighborhood- but by no accident, as the bakery was founded by an old friend of Claire's mother. Sadly, the owner wasn't there, but we tried the baked goods and were VERY impressed with the Congo Bars and the macaroons.
We took a taxi back to oldtown, which we thought was surely going to involve vehicular manslaughter but thankfully did not, and purchased some souvenirs and then found our way to the post office so we could mail all of the souvenirs thus far acquired back home. Finally, after a late lunch, it was time to part ways with Patrick and the remaining three of us headed for the Tallinn airport, where we then had to make our goodbyes to Claire. Nick and I passed our short flight to Warsaw by playing a couple games of Viking Chess, which we hadn't tried before, but I found fascinating. It helps that I was winning, I suppose :-p Unfortunately however, during the flight Nick became a little concerned that he was coming down with something quick, as his energy was fading fast; and combined with the fact our stay in Warsaw was actually scheduled shorter than I had understood it to be, we ended up deciding that Nick need to get some sleep and exploring the city would have to be forgone this trip.
Thus it is that I sit here at 0120h in an otherwise completely dead airport in Warsaw, with Nick snoring softly on the floor next to the metal benches they have here, waiting for our 0650h flight to Vienna, Austria where our adventure continues. It's time for me to do likewise as Nick though and catch a few Z's before the airport becomes noisy again. In the meanwhile friends, as they said in the middle ages: vivat!